Indiana House votes along party lines to expand school voucher program

INDIANAPOLIS - Some Hoosier families could more easily qualify for Indiana's two-year-old voucher program under legislation approved by the GOP-dominated House on a 57-36 vote Thursday.

The bill, which is backed by Republican Gov. Mike Pence, would allow children starting kindergarten whose families meet the income guidelines to receive vouchers without first spending a year attending public school.

It would also allow parents who have special-needs students or are military veterans to qualify if they earn up to about $84,000 per year for a family of four, rather than the normal eligibility mark of less than about $63,000 per year.

And it increases the size of the voucher for students in first through eighth grades from $4,500 per year to $5,500 per year – a change that would be phased in over two years.

Republicans pitched the measure as a chance to grow a program launched under former Gov. Mitch Daniels that now offers 9,135 Hoosier children tax dollars to attend private schools.

"Let's expand it and make more options available for more kids," said Rep. Bob Behning, the Indianapolis Republican who chairs the House Education Committee and authored the voucher expansion.

Democrats, meanwhile, argued that it is too soon to expand the voucher program.

"It diverts public money from public schools and creates, essentially, a government entitlement that supports private education and supports private-school students," said Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary.

"We have not stopped to see what is the outcome from the 2011 reform that we made dealing with this particular issue. And we also have in the background an Indiana Supreme Court decision on vouchers that we need to wait on."